Indonesia is aiming to increase foreign direct investment by 23 per cent in 2013, after inflows already hit a record high in the previous year, thanks to a massive 22.4 per cent jump in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Throughout January-December 2012, Indonesia realised total investments $32.5 billion, surpassing its annual target $25 billion, the country’s Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) reported on January 22. Of the total investment, $23 billion came from foreign sources.

The investments were driven by the mining, transport and chemicals sectors, showing firms shrugged off worries over bureaucracy, corruption and weak infrastructure in an economy growing at more than 6 per cent annually.

“We are optimistic that this trend will continue,” BKPM chairman M. Chatib Basri told a press briefing, predicting that the country would be able to meet its yearly investment target of $40 billion in 2013, of which $28 billion should come from overseas. In 2012, total investment realisation contributed to 307,960 additional jobs, he added. In average, 70 per cent of overall investment are foreign direct investments.

Indonesia is keen to draw investment in transport to improve strained infrastructure from airports to railways, and wants investment in chemical manufacturing to turn the country’s oil and natural gas output into higher value products.